Sump construction for food waste disposal apparatus



June 16, 1964 E, F. SHELL ETAL 3,137,450

SUMP CONSTRUCTION FOR FOOD WASTE DISPOSAL APPARATUS Filed July 13, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG.\

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30 Q D [6 Z3 M 22 INVENTORS ERNEST F. SHELL &BE.RNARD :r. BREZO$KY THEJR ATTORNEY Julie 16, 1964 E. F. SHELL ETAL 3,137,450

SUMP CONSTRUCTION FOR FOOD WASTE DISPOSAL APPARATUS Filed July 13, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS ERNEST F. SHELL &BERNARD a". BREZOSKY THEN? ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,137,450 SUMP CONSTRUCTION FOR FOOD WASTE DISPOSAL APPARATUS Ernest F. Shell and Bernard J. Brezosky, Louisville, Ky., assignors to'General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Filed July 13, 1962, Ser. No. 209,509 Claims. (Cl. 241-46) This invention relates to apparatus" usable in the home for the disposal of food waste material that is comminuted in the presence of water by a power driven comminuting means to a flowable mixture, and the resultant mixture flushed into the waste disposal system of the house. While it is not limited thereto this invention is particularly concerned with the provision of improvements in apparatus of this kind which may be positioned in the kitchen sink to discharge the comminuted waste into the sink drain opening, and in which position the kitchen faucet may be used to supply cold water to the apparatus during the comminuting operation. This invention is applicable to and useful in the portable food waste disposer described and claimed in Patent No. 3,094,291 to Joubert Lindstrom and Fred W. Moore, and it is an improvement over an earlier construction in Patent No. 3,071,329 to Ernest F. Shell and Robert C. Pressley, both of which are assigned to the General Electric Company, the assignee of the present invention.

The portable disposer that is described in the Lindstrom et al. Patent No. 3,094,291 is to be used directly over the sink drain opening in the kitchen sink. The disposer is provided with discharge openings in the central area of its bottom wall for discharging the comminuted material directly into the drain opening. This disposer includes an upper hopper, a comminuting means at the lower end of the hopper, and a sump located beneath the comminuting means. The comminuting means is driven by an electric motor that is removably positioned in the throat of the upper end of the hopper and is engageable with a drive shaft that is joined with the comminuting means and supported from the bottom wall of the sump. In operation,

the comminuting means serves to shred or grind the food Waste While water is introduced into the hopper around the motor. Particles of the comminuted waste material are entrained in the water and pass from the hopper through the comminuting means and into the sump and from the sump out through the discharge openings in the bottom Wall of the sump.

One difficulty experienced with this type of apparatus is that the fluid mixture in the sump would tend to form a vortex and build up around the side walls of the sump therebydelaying the discharge of the comminuted mass from the sump, as Well as causing a residue of the waste to remain around the side walls when the unit is stopped. An early solution is taught in Patent No. 3,071,329 to Ernest F. Shell and Robert C. Pressley, where the bottom wall of the sump is provided with vortex breaking vanes or guide means that spiral inwardly from the outer side wall to the discharge openings adjacent the central area of the sump. This has been generally satisfactory.

In accordance with the present invention, the sump is made to be self-cleaning by directing each vane inwardly from the outer edge of the bottom wall toward the upstream side of an elongated discharge opening for discharging the waste in a straight line manner along the extent of the discharge opening. Moreover, plugging of the sink drain opening is prevented by altering the location of the discharge openings so that they do not discharge directly into the sink drain opening, but instead are located in an enlarged circle that overlies the edge of the sink drain opening. Hence, the food waste will fall 3,137,450 Patented June 16, 1964;

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onto the edge of the sink waste is mixed with water will remain there until suflicient water pours through the disposer to wash the waste into the sink drain opening. This feature insures that the food waste will be mixed with a sufiicient amount of Water when it enters the sink drain opening and it has been learned that it is quite important to the overall success of this development.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a sump for a food'waste disposer so that the rapid' flow of comminuted waste material within the sump is prevented from forming vortices, and at the same time the design will be simplified to make it self-cleaning so that no residue'will remain in the unit after it is stopped. A further object of the present invention is to provide a sump for a food waste disposer of the class described with'discharge means for insuring that the comminuted waste will not enter the sink drain opening'unless and until water is mixed with the waste and the waste is then carried by the Water into the sink drain opening-so as to prevent plugging of the drain. A still further object of the present invention is to provide a portable food waste disposer with a sump construction having flow directing vanes that direct the waste material with a laminar flow into the discharge openings of the sump so as to avoid the likelihood of a reversal of flow which would cause turbulence and a residue of waste remaining in the sump when the unit isstopped. Our invention will be better understood from the following description takenin conjunction With the accompanying drawings and its scope will be pointed out in the appended claims.

FIGURE 1 is an elevational view of a portable waste disposer embodying the present invention with parts broken away to show in cross-section the importantdetails of the construction of the sump; e

FIGURE 2 is a cross-sectional plan view taken on the line 2- 2 of FIGURE 1 for a detailed showing of the bottom wall of the sump; and

FIGURE 3 is afragmentary cross-sectional elevational 7 view taken on the line 3--3 of FIGURE 2 for a better understanding of the location of the discharge openings in the bottom wall of the sump with relation to ,the, sink drain opening.

Referring in detail to the drawings and in particular to FIGURE 1, this invention has been shown in one form as applied to a portable food waste disposer for operation in a kitchen sink as described and claimed in the above-cited patent of Joubert Lindstrom and Fred W. Moore. The bottom wall of the sink in which the disposer may be operated is designated by the numeral 10 i and the usual Water faucet associated with the sink is identified by the numeral 11. The disposer unit 13 is arranged to comminute wase material supplied to itand discharge it into a sink drain opening 12 provided. in the bottom wall 10, and it comminutes the waste material in the presence of Water supplied from the water faucet 11'.

. A portable disposer 13 comprises a lower base member 14 and a removable motor 15 for driving a cominuting means within the base. The base member 14 comprises an upper hopper 16, a comminuting chamber 17 at the bottom of the hopper, and a sump 18 located beneath the comminuting chamber. The base member 14 is formed by a lower pan-shaped casting'19 of metal such as aluminum or plastic such as an epoxy resin, and an upper housing 20 shown as a plastic that forms the exterior of the hopper and is generally of square-shape in plan view so as to fit snugly into the corner of the sink when theunit is not being operated. The lower base portion 19 has a bottom wall 21 and a cylindrical side wall 22 which teledrain opening and unless the c 20. These two mating parts are held together in any suitable manner as by bonding or gluing.

The comminuting chamber 17 is formed by a fixed shredding ring 24 and a rotatable flywheel 25 that is dis posed within the ring and serves as the bottom wall of the hopper 16. Any suitable comminuting means may be used, but for purposes of illustration the comminuting means shown is the one disclosed in the U.S. patent to Herbert l. Macemon, 2,823,083 dated March 25, 1958 and assigned to the General Electric Company, the assignee of this application. The shredding ring 24 is of cylindrical shape and it is provided with lanced cutting surfaces 26 and two series of lower and upper drain holes 27 and 28. The top edge of the shredding ring is provided with an outwardly facing flange 29 that is positioned on a seat 30 in the upper edge of the lower housing part 19 and is held in place by an overlying ledge 31 in the upper housing portion 20. The flywheel 25 is circular in shape and it is fastened on a vertical drive shaft 35 that is journalled in a bearing 36 provided for it on the central axis of the bottom wall 21 of the disposer unit. The flywheel supports a pair of swinging impellers 37 that are arranged when the flywheel is rotated (counterclockwise looking down on the flywheel in FIGURE 1) to impel the waste material'against the shredding ring 24 so as to comminute the material to a fine mass. It will be understood by those skilled in this art that during the comminuting operation cold water will be caused to flow into and through the hopper from faucet 11. Eventually the water and com-' rninuting material will be impelled outwardly through the apertures 27 and 28 into an annular drain space 40 provided between the shredding ring 24 and the cylindrical side wall 22 of the lower housing member 19. Thence the water and comminuted waste moves downwardly with a swirling motion into the sump 18 under the flywheel 25.

Attention will now be given to the construction of the sump 18 and particularly to the nature of the bottom wall 21 as is best seen in FIGURES 2 and 3; As mentioned previously the sump 18 is formed by a bottom wall 21 and a cylindrical side wall 22. The central portion of the bottom wall is raised as at 41 to form a pillar for supporting the bearing 36 for the lower end of the drive shaft 35 of the comminuting means. This pillar 41 is symmetrical in configuration and has a downwardly and outwardly sloping side wall surface that terminates in an annular recess 42. Located within this recess are a plurality of elongated discharge openings 43 of arcuate shape as is best seen in FIGURE 2. These discharge openings 43 are aranged in a circular pattern that is greater in diameter than the diameter of the standard size sink drain opening 12 Thus, in one embodiment the circular pattern is about 3% inches in diameter measured from the innermost edges of said openings, because at the present time the standard size of the drain opening 12 is about 3% inches. Each discharge opening 43 is provided with a flow interrupting vertical rib or vane 44 which extends from the outer edge of the bottom wall 21 and is radially spaced from the downstream side of an adjacent discharge opening to a point at the upstream side of the related opening for discharging with a laminar flow along the extent of the elongated discharge opening 43.. These ribs or vanes 44 are formed by a difference of elevation between a gradually sloping incline 45 and a raised generally fiat shelf 46 that merges with the upstream end of the incline 45 by means of the short slope 47. Accordingly, the contour of the bottom wall 21 between the cylindrical side wall 22 and the annular recess 42 is made-up as follows: downward incline '45, vane 44, raised shelf 46, short slope 47, downward incline 45, vane 44, raised shelf 46, short slope 47, etc. The vanes 44 not only serve to prevent the formation of a vortex around the inner surface of the side wall 22 of the sump, but each vane is of such shape'and height as to direct the waste and water mixture toward the discharge openings 43 so as to give the correct discharge rate for minimum plugging of the sink drain as well as providing maximum self-cleaning of the sump once the disposer motor 15 is de-energized. Self-cleaning action is insured by discharging the water and waste into a discharge opening with a streamlined or laminar flow that is in line \m'th the direction of rotation of the mass within the sump. This prevents the waste from having to change direction or be come turbulent just before it enters the discharge opening 43. This feature coupled with the configuration of the top surface of the bottom wall of the sump prevents the accumulation of waste at sharp turns or at points of zero velocity of the rotating mass. Moreover, it has been discovered that there is minimum plugging of the sink drain opening 12 when the discharge openings 43 are located so as to discharge the waste at the outer edge of the drain opening 12 thereby causing the waste to pile up under the sump until such time as suflicient water passes from the sump and flushes the Waste over the edge and into the sink drain opening. This prevents the waste from entering directly into the drain in solid slugs which might cause plugging as for instance in the event the motor were started before the water faucet 11 was turned on. Modifications of this invention will occur to those skilled in the art; therefore it is to be understood that this invention is not limited to the particular embodiments disclosed but that it is intended to cover all modifications which are within the true spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

What we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. Food waste disposal apparatus comprising a housing that provides a hopper having at its upper end an inlet opening for receiving water and waste material, the lower end of the hopper containing a comminuting means in the form of a rotatable flywheel and a fixed shredding element surrounding the flywheel, a sump located beneath the comrnin uting means, and drainage means defining a passage for the drainage of comrninuted material from said hop per to said sump, the bottom wall of the sump containing 2. Food waste disposal apparatus comprising a housing that provides a hopper having at its upper end an inlet opening for receiving water and waste material, the lower end of the hopper containing a comminuting means in the form of a rotatable flywheel and a fixed shredding element surrounding the flywheel, a sump located beneath the comminuting means, and drainage means defining a passage for the drainage of comminuted material from said hopper to said sump during the rotation of the flywheel, the bottom wall of the sump containing at least two elongated discharge openings of arcuate shape disposed'in a circular pattern within an annular recess around the center of said bottom wall, said bottom wall also having at least two flow interrupting vertical ribs associated with said elongated discharge openings, each of said ribs extending from a point near the outer edge of said bottom wall inwardly to a point at the upstream side of its associated discharge opening to discharge the waste with a laminar flow into the recess and along the extent of the elongated discharge openings, the disposal apparatus being adapted to be placed directly over a sink drain opening, the circular pattern of the discharge openings being larger in diameter than the diameter of the sink drain opening so that the waste does not pass directly from the discharge openings into the sink drain opening but is adapted to drop onto the bottom wall of the sink and to be washed by the water passing through the disposal apparatus from the bottom wall into the sink drain opening.

3. Food waste disposal apparatus comprising a housing that provides a hopper having at its upper end an inlet opening for receiving Water and waste material, the lower end of the hopper containing a comminuting means in the form of a rotatable flywheel and a fixed shredding element surrounding the flywheel, a sump located beneath the comminuting means, and drainage means defining a passage for the drainage of comminuted material from said hopper to said sump when the flywheel is rotated, the bottom wall of the sump containing a plurality of elongated discharge openings disposed in a circular pattern around the center of said bottom wall, the diameter of said circular pattern being greater than about 3% inches so that when the disposal apparatus is positioned over a drain opening in a sink the discharge of the waste through the discharge openings will cause the waste to form around the edge of the sink drain opening and be washedfrom the sink into the drain opening so that the waste does not discharge directly into the sink drain opening, said bottom wall also having a plurality of flow directing vanes, where each discharge opening has a cooperating vane that eX- tends from the outer edge of said bottom-wall to a point at the upstream side of the discharge opening for dis charging the waste with a laminar flow along the extent of the elongated discharge opening.

4. Food waste disposal apparatus comprising a housing that provides a hopper having in its upper end an inlet opening for receiving water and waste material, the lower end of the hopper containing a rotatable flywheel and'a fixed shredding element surrounding the flywheel, a sump located beneath the flywheel, and drainage means defining a passage forthe drainage of comminuting material from said hopper to said sump, the bottom wall of the sump containing a plurality of elongated discharge openings disposed in a circular pattern within an annular recess around the center or" said bottom wall, the diameter of this circular pattern being greater than about 3% inches so that when the disposal apparatus is centered over a sink drain opening the waste passing through the discharge openings will not pass directly into the sink drain opening but will pass onto and over the edge of the sink drain 6 opening before entering said drain opening, said bottom wall also having a plurality of flow directing vanes associated with said plurality of elongated discharge openings,

each of said vanes extending from a point near the outer edge of said bottom wall inwardly to a point at the up stream side of its associated discharge opening to discharge the waste with a laminar flow along the extent of p the elongated discharge openings, the central portion of the bottom wall of the sump being raised and the portion of the bottom wall outside the annular recess being raised but inclined radially toward the center of the bottom wall ing the flywheel, a sump located beneath the flywheel, and

drainage means defining a passage for the drainage of comminuting material from said hopper to said sump, motor means supported above the top of the hopper and being provided with a drive shaft extending down through said hopper and'flywheel and being supported in a central bearing in the bottom wall of the sump, the bottom wall of the sump containing'an annular recess centered around the shaft bearing, and a plurality of arcuate shaped elongated discharge openings disposed in a circular pattern within the said recess, the area of the bottom wall of the sump outside the said recess sloping downwardly toward the recess, said bottom wall also having a plurality, of flow ,7 directing vanes, where each vane extends from the outer edge of said bottom wall and is directed toward'the annular recess for discharging the waste with a laminarflow along the extent of the elongated discharge opening.

Brown et al. Jan, 6, 1953 2,629,558 Miller p Feb. 24,1953 2,784,914 Powers Mar; 12 1957 Shell et al. at Jami, 1963- 

1. FOOD WASTE DISPOSAL APPARATUS COMPRISING A HOUSING THAT PROVIDES A HOPPER HAVING AT ITS UPPER END AN INLET OPENING FOR RECEIVING WATER AND WASTE MATERIAL, THE LOWR END OF THE HOPPER CONTAINING A COMMINUTING MEANS IN THE FORM OF A ROTATABLE FLYWHEEL AND A FIXED SHREDDING ELEMENT SURROUNDING THE FLYWHEEL, A SUMP LOCATED BENEATH THE COMMINUTING MEANS, AND DRAINAGE MEANS DEFINING A PASSAGE FOR THE DRAINAGE OF COMMINUTED MATERIAL FROM SAID HOPPER TO SAID SUMP, THE BOTTOM WALL OF THE SUMP CONTAINING A PLURALITY OF ELONGATED DISCHARGE OPENINGS DISPOSED IN A CIRCULAR PATTERN WITHIN AN ANNULAR RECESS AROUND THE CENTER OF SAID BOTTOM WALL, SAID BOTTOM WALL ALSO HAVING A PLURALITY OF FLOW INTERRUPTING VERTICAL RIBS ASSOCIATED WITH SAID PLURALITY OF ELONGATED DISCHARGE OPENINGS, EACH OF SAID RIBS EXTENDING FROM A POINT AT THE OUTER EDGE OF SAID BOTTOM WALL INWARDLY TO A POINT AT THE UPSTREAM SIDE OF ITS ASSOCIATED DISCHARGE OPENING TO DISCHARGE THE WASTE WITH A LAMINAR FLOW INTO THE RECESS AND ALONG THE EXTENT OF THE ELONGATED DISCHARGE OPENINGS. 